Elevator bucket



Jan. 30, 1934. B. B. GEMENY Er AL.

ELEVATOR BUCKET Filed July 22, 1932 Patented Jan. 30, 1934 UNITED STATES ELEVATOR BUCKET Blaine B. Gemeny, Chicago, lll., and Burt I. Weller, Highland, Ind.

Application July 22, 1932. Serial No. 624,004

2 Claims. (Cl. 1538-141) Ordinarily, continuous bucket elevators are adapted to carry different kinds of materials at slow speed, the discharge of the materials being aided slightly by centrifugal force-whereby the 5 contents of each bucket is poured out over the inverted bottom of the bucketahead. Various types of buckets have been used in an endeavor to provide a continuous bucket type elevator which can be run at increased speed without causing spilling of the material from the buckets in their upward movement or discharge of the material in contact with the inverted bottoms of the buckets ahead.

This invention relates to an improved type of elevator bucket which is of improved shape and is so designed that the angle of repose of the grain or material carried by the bucket is substantially disposed within the plane of discharge of the material or the plane of lling of the bucket which extends from the top edge of the back wall of the bucket to the front edge or lip of the bucket.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved elevator bucket designed to permit the same to be loaded to capacity and further adapted when carried by a belt to be mounted closely adjacent a similar bucket to discharge the material outwardly without interfering with the buckets ahead thereby permitting the continuous bucket elevator to discharge auniform ow of the material of substantially the same quantity as the uniform ofw load of the elevator belt.

It is also an object of this invention to provide an improved type of continuous bucket elevator wherein the buckets are designed to permit the same to be mounted closely adjacent one another, and allowing the buckets to carry capacity loads and discharge the loads when traveling over the upper pulley into a continuous stream against the inner surface of the head of the elevator casing, without allowing any of the discharge material from dropping into contact with the buckets ahead.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a continuous bucket elevator. with improved buckets designed to permit the same to be mounted closely adjacent one another on the elevator belt, with each of said buckets having the side or end walls projecting upwardly abovethe full load plane of the material in the bucket with the upper edges of the extensions shaped to correspond to a segment of a hyperbolic spiral curve while the bottom edges of the side walls are shaped to correspond to a segment of a logarithmic spiral with the outer ends of said edges extending tangentially from the logarithmic spiral and terminating at the outer end of the upper edges of the side walls.

It is furthermore an object of this invention to provide a continuous bucket elevator with im- 00 proved buckets adapted to be mounted closely adjacent one another on the elevator belt and adapted to carry capacity loads at a wide range of speeds and discharge the loads after passing the horizontal middle line of the upper pulley out- 55 wardly against the inner surface of the head of the elevator casing to produce a uniform discharge flow of the material without allowing the material as it is discharged from the buckets from dropping into contact with the buckets ahead.

Another object of the invention is to provide improved elevator buckets which are so designed v that they can be mounted closely adjacent one another on an elevator belt and can carry capacity loads at a wide range of high speeds of the elevator belt, and discharge the material as the buckets travel over the upper pulley wheel, said discharge taking place -without contacting adjacent buckets and permitting a great reduction in the amount of head space required between the upper bight of the belt and the top wall of the head section of the elevator casing.

It is an important object of this invention to provide y an improved type of elevator bucket adapted for use in producing a continuous bucket 95 elevator which may be run at a wide variation oi? high speeds to create centrifugal forces which are greater than the action 'of gravity allowing the full capacity load carried by the buckets to be discharged into the head of the elevator casing into a reduced head space to produce la continu- 'ous uniform flow of the material at a rate corresponding substantially to the maximum load carrying capacity of a horizontally traveling ilat belt with sides. 95

It is a further important object of this invention to provide a material carrying elevator with buckets of improved design with each bucket having theend Walls slightly inclined upwardly toward one another with the upper edges curved and extending above the full load plane of the bucket, said end walls being connected by a slightly concave rear wall and by a bottom wall having the curvature of a section of a logarithmic spiral with the lip section of the bottom wall extending tangentially to the curvature of the main portion of the bottom wall.

Other and further important objects of this invention will be apparent from the disclosures elevator buckets illustrating a fragmentary portion of the conveyor belt in section.

Figure 3 is a reduced longitudinal sectional view of the bucket taken on-line III-III of Figure 2 with the belt omitted.

As shown on the drawing:

The reference numeral 1 indicates a material velevator housing or casing culminating in an upper section or head 2 and having a material discharge pipe or spout 3. Journaled in suitable bearings provided in the head 2 is an upper or head driving shaft 4 on which an upper or head pulley wheel 5 is supported. The elevator is equipped with a continuous belt 6 which travels vertically upwardly over the head pulley 5, and then passes downwardly in the opposite. side of the elevator casing. As clearly illustrated in Figure 1, the upper curved wall forming the top of the elevator casing head2 is positioned but a slight distance above the top of the head pulley 5 so that the head space is materially reduced to provide amore direct path of discharge for the material in the casing head.

Secured to the belt 6 by means of bolts or rivets 7 on the like are a plurality of improved material carrying buckets which are disposed transversely of the belt 6 in close parallel association with respect to one another to form acontinuous bucket type conveyor. The close mounting of the buckets on the belt is made possible due to the improved Adesign of the buckets which are adapted to carry capacity loads permitting the continuous bucket type conveyor to be run at a variable range of high speeds without spilling of the material from the buckets during the upward travel thereof until they pass over the head pulley 5 to be centrifugally discharged. The material is discharged into the low head space of the head section 2 with a centrifugal force which is greater than gravity so that the 'material being discharged is not permitted to drop into contact With the buckets ahead, nor is any of the material permitted to be trapped in the buckets or behind adjacent buckets to be carried back in to the boot of the elevator casing.

Each of the elevator buckets comprises a slightly curved or concaved backplate or wall 8 having integrally connected with the lower margin thereof the rear or lower end of a bottom plate 9. The bottom plate 9 is connected with the rear plate 8 by a rounded corner 10. The bottom wall or plate 9 is curved to conform substantially to a section of a logarithmic spiral and has the upper margin or end thereof deflected to form a lip 11 which is positioned tangentially to the curvature of the body portion of the bottom plate 9. The edge of the lip 11 is positioned at a point below the level of the top edge 12 of the rear plate 8 so that the full load plane of the bucket represented by the broken"-line 16 of Figure 2 is positioned at substantially 73 from the plane of the rear wall of the bucket. It will thus be noted that the inclination of the full load plane of the bucket corresponds with the angle of repose of grain or similar material to be conveyed or carried by the bluckets.

Integrally connecting the side edges of the rear plate 8 with the side edges of the bottom plate 9 are two side walls or plates 13. The side walls 13 are slightly inclined upwardly and forwardly toward one another as illustrated in Figure 3 and continue on upwardly above the full load plane 16 to form side wings or extensions 14. The side wings 14 have the upper edges thereof curved to conform substantially to the curvature of a segment of a hyperbolic spiral, and said curved edges 15 terminate at the ends of the top edge 12 of the rear plate while the front ends of the edges 15 terminate at the ends of the lip 11. This projection of the side walls 13 of the bucket above the plane of full load of the bucket permits the bucket to be loaded to full load capacity as illustrated in the ascending buckets in Figure 1 and furthermore prevents spilling of the material.

The improved shape of the bucket affords an 'arrangement whereby each of the .buckets can carry a full capacity load of material permitting the conveyor belt to be driven at a wide range of high speeds without spilling out the carried material; As the buckets are vertically elevated and pass the horizontal middle line of the head pulley 5, the centrifugal force created by the speed of the traveling belt is in excess of the force of gravity so that as the buckets travel over the upper bight of the continuous bucket conveyor, the material gradually commences to be discharged outwardly in a spiral direction guided by the'curvature of the bottom walls 9 of the buckets and by the tangential lips 11 so that the material is directed upwardly against the irmer surface of the curved top wall of the head 2 overcoming the force of gravity thereby eliminating the dropping of any of the material back into the spaces between adjacent buckets. The material in the various buckets travels over the upper pulley wheel 5 and due to the curvature of the bottoms of the buckets and the inclined side plates thereof is eciently discharged in a continuous stream outwardly through the discharge chute 3 at a uniform rate of ow equal to a theoretical continuous full capacity stream of material of a uniform depth of flow and a width equal to the length of the bucket and adapted to be carried by a horizontal traveling belt of a width equal to the length of a bucket and/having sides of a given height.

With the improved type of buckets, said buckets are adapted to be mounted closely adjacent to one another on an elevator belt without interfering with the discharge of the material from adjacent buckets and further allowing the complete quantity of material carried by each of the 135 buckets to be discharged by centrifugal force into an elevator casing head having a comparatively low head space for receiving the material as it is guided outwardly by the bottom walls and side walls of the buckets into a continuous uniform 140 discharge stream of the material, when the conveyor belt is driven at high speed to produce a centrifugal discharge force in the head of the elevator casing exceeding the force of gravity. With the improved type of buckets, trapping of 145 the material in the buckets is eliminated as well as dropping of material between the buckets so that none of the material carried upwardly by the buckets is carried back into the boot of the elevator casing. 150

It will, of course, be understood that various details of construction may be varied through a wide range without departing from the principles of this invention, and it is therefore not the purpose to limit the patent granted hereon otherwise than necessitated by the scope of the appended claims.

We claim as our invention:

1. In an elevator mechanism, in combination, an endless carrier, a pulley over which the upper end of the conveyoris trained, a plurality of buckets securedl in close proximity to each other on said carrier, said buckets having bottoms defining a segment of a logarithmic spiral, a casing head in said elevator l in spaced relation from said pulley, said casing head being curved to present an insidesurface in close proximity with the ascending buckets which surface gradually slopes away from the buckets as they travel around the pulley, said buckets discharging material in increments by centrifugal force into the casing head as they pass around said pulley, whereby said material slides around the casing head to discharge in a-constant even ow.

2. An elevator bucket for an endless chain elevator adapted to eject material therefrom after the chain reaches the upper limit of its vertical travel, comprising a container with an inwardly curved back wall adapted to be secured to the endless chain and conform with the periphery of the pulleys around which the chain is trained, a bottom l conform to the curvature of a segment of a logarithmic spiral, and side walls extending above the full load plane of the bucket to form side flaps. the upper edges of which conform to the curvature of a section of a hyperbolic spiral.

BLAINE B. GEMENY., BURT I.

wall curved outwardly tov 

